Midd football players spend time each week with local school kids.

Middlebury College has finished second in the Learfield Sports Director’s Cup race for the second straight season. The Panthers earned their sixth consecutive top-five finish, including four second place finishes. Williams won the cup, followed by Middlebury, Amherst in third and Tufts in 10th place, to represent NESCAC schools. Points for the cup are awarded based on excellence in NCAA tournament play.

Middlebury defeated Georgetown in Friday's semifinal and Wisconsin in Saturday's national championship game, giving the Panthers their second Division II national title in three years.

In their third straight trip to the “Big Four,” Middlebury regained the title they last won in 2007 on the same field at Stanford University’s Steuber Stadium.

A dozen seventh grade girls excitedly kick off their snow boots and race one another to lace up their tennis shoes before entering the gym. As the door opens, the sound of basketballs bouncing up and down fills the room. A Middlebury College student sees the girls, puts the basketball she is holding under one arm, and beckons the seventh graders onto the court. The seventh graders grab balls and join the college players, ready for fun.